The present invention generally relates to the field of computer data storage and retrieval, and more specifically, to performing searches for objects within a social networking system.
Modern computing systems store vast amounts of data, and as a consequence it has become increasingly important to provide users with effective ways to locate information that is relevant to their interests. One area in which large amounts of information are involved is social networking. Social networking systems allow users to designate other users as friends (or otherwise connect to or form relationships with other users), contribute and interact with media items, use applications, join groups, list and confirm attendance at events, create pages, and perform other tasks that facilitate social interaction. Since each of these tasks may involve various data objects, social networking systems are a good example of the demand for systems that help users locate relevant information from within a large set of information tracked or otherwise used by the system.
Although it might be helpful to customize a search for a user's particular needs, many systems have little or no relevant information about the user who is searching for information, which makes locating information of particular relevance to a given user more challenging. But a social networking system typically tracks a considerable amount of information about each user, which can be leveraged to identify items of relevance to a given user. However, the query functionalities currently available on social networking systems do not fully leverage the information that the systems store. Nor do other systems use the information stored by social networking systems to improve the relevance of the data provided to their own users.